This painting occurs a few moments after my work ‘the cicada’. Here we see a metamorphosis, as two versions of a self temporarily overlap within the same space. One is a hollowed out shell, from which the other is in the process of pulling herself away. This shell is the representation of the boundaries and assumptions which once defined her edges.

The work is thus an attempt to manifest the idea that we are in a constant state of becoming what was once other. Redefining the boundaries of who we are so that our stories become littered with the many deaths of who we once were. These boundaries are not always chosen by us, but are the attempts of others to comfortably situate us within their own narratives. As such it lacks the vivid colour and vitality of our present self. This work is in some respects a morning of who we once were and the daring step into something unknown.

Generated through my experimental play with the different possible reactions of pigments, salts and acids to the oxidisation of my copper support. It was also painted over many weeks, from life, in a mirror. As such the work itself is generated through this process of attempting to fix my present into a medium that is equally responsive to change in time. Therefore the painting is the same as the shell lying discarded at the bottom, a fingerprint of my mind and body over the span of time in which it was created.